Apple's event is going on right now - and most of the new stuff already leaked weeks and months ahead of time. So, we're getting an iPhone 5S, an iPhone 5C, and iOS7 will be available later this month. I like the design of the 5C more than of the 5S; it's more playful, colourful - harking back to the coloured iMacs and PowerMac G3s. Too bad it doesn't come in red.

The fingerprint sensor in the 5S is interesting, but I wonder how accurate it will be in the real world; on top of that, with all the NSA news, I'm not particularly keen on Apple reading my fingerprint all the time. Supposedly, applications don't have access to it and it's not stored in the cloud, but I have little to no trust for companies.

The biggest news for me is the fact that the iPhone 5S has a new chip - the A7 - which has the honour of being the first 64bit chip inside a smartphone. iOS7 and first party Apple applications are all 64bit, and Xcode obviously supports it. While this obviously future-proofs the platform for more RAM, I wonder what other motives are involved here. ARM desktops and laptops, perhaps?

I doubt 64bit will provide much benefit today, but you have to hand it to Apple: at least they're done with the transition before it's even needed.

Well I have an iPhone 4 from work and will be getting the new 5S, so I can reply to why I'm upgrading to a 5S rather than an Android phone (I can choose what I want).

1. Apps. The apps are just better on iOS. At least the apps I use (a few dozen). Faster, better designed, and less likely to have ads than on Android. Also still some apps that just plain don't exist on Android.
2. Just works out of the box. I have no interest in customizing my phone beyond setting the wallpaper. I used to love this stuff but these days I need it to work without hassle. iCloud, shared photostreams, iTunes, the built in apps, etc. It all just works great. Even such basic features as an alarm I had to find an alternative app for my wife's Nexus 4 because the default one is so shitty on android.
3. Better support for MS Exchange for work stuff.
4. I prefer the looks and the phones give a much better impression on quality than the android phones I've used. Maybe the HTC One is just as good but I haven't used it. My wife's nexus 4 is ok but has a amazingly stupidly placed "on" button.
5. Fingerprint sensor on the 5S is cool. Hope it works as advertised.
6. UI much smoother than on Android. Scrolling on a webpage, scrolling on the map, and zooming in the PDF viewer amongst other tasks is smoother on my iPhone 4 (once the page is loaded) than on the Nexus 4, and the iPhone hardware is ancient history at this point.
7. Screen size is a non-issue for me. I wouldn't say no to a bigger screen but it also doesn't offer any advantages for me. Movies on a phone are shitty on 5" or 4", and most apps do nothing with the extra space on android devices with bigger screens. Would rather have the smaller form factor to fit the pocket.

1. Apps. The apps are just better on iOS. At least the apps I use (a few dozen). Faster, better designed, and less likely to have ads than on Android. Also still some apps that just plain don't exist on Android.

Apps better? Matter of opinion. All of the Android apps I use are well designed and work as advertised. Google is an ad company. I am willing to put up with ads for freedom of choice and full control over my device.

2. Just works out of the box. I have no interest in customizing my phone beyond setting the wallpaper. I used to love this stuff but these days I need it to work without hassle. iCloud, shared photostreams, iTunes, the built in apps, etc. It all just works great. Even such basic features as an alarm I had to find an alternative app for my wife's Nexus 4 because the default one is so shitty on android.

So you're willing to put up with Apple's draconian control over what you can and cannot do with your iPhone because you don't care? Sorry, but I DO care. I absolutely love the fact that I can customize every square inch of my Adroid from the wallpaper to the icon set, the default launcher and yes, even the wallpaper. Sorry but because you yourself don't want or need such customaization is not an argument for iOS being superior because it doesn't ALLOW such customization.

3. Better support for MS Exchange for work stuff.
Android's support for MS Exchange and "work stuff" is just fine thank you. In addition to that, there are several high quality open source office suites available for Android that are fully compatible with Microsoft Office and work just fine.

4. I prefer the looks and the phones give a much better impression on quality than the android phones I've used. Maybe the HTC One is just as good but I haven't used it. My wife's nexus 4 is ok but has a amazingly stupidly placed "on" button.

You're speaking of a few phones and then using your experience and biased opinion with those to generalize about the huge pool of available Android phones that come in myriad prices and specifications. At least with such phones you have choice. With iPhone, you have a choice of color and a high price and little else.

5. Fingerprint sensor on the 5S is cool. Hope it works as advertised.
I give it mere months and fingerprint sensors will appear on Android phones too. By the way, how long did it take Apple to finally get NFC? Oh let me guess, you would never dream of using such a feature so it's stupid and unnecessary.

6. UI much smoother than on Android. Scrolling on a webpage, scrolling on the map, and zooming in the PDF viewer amongst other tasks is smoother on my iPhone 4 (once the page is loaded) than on the Nexus 4, and the iPhone hardware is ancient history at this point.

Evidently you've not used an Android device equipped with Android 4.3. Smooth as butter, openGL 3+, etc. has been available on Android for months and only just now debuting on Apple iPhone 5S

7. Screen size is a non-issue for me. I wouldn't say no to a bigger screen but it also doesn't offer any advantages for me. Movies on a phone are shitty on 5" or 4", and most apps do nothing with the extra space on android devices with bigger screens. Would rather have the smaller form factor to fit the pocket.

So just because you don't see the advantage of bigger screens they're irrelevant? Sorry no. Market research indicates that users want phones with bigger screens. So called "phablets" are flying off the shelves at Samsung and LG.

You don't seem to understand that choice is good. Variability is good. Phones that come equipped with SD card slots, HDMI output, large screens, fast multi-core processors and myriad other features is a good thing. All at a much lower cost than iPhone. Sorry my friend, but Apple's day i the sun is over.